Vaginal syringe.



'PATENTED MAY 21, .1907; H. R. SEARLBS & s. s. JONES.

VAGINAL SYRINGE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1905. RENEWED m0. 1, 1906.

2 MEETS-SHEET 1.

110.854.5554. PATENTED MAY 21, 1907.

' -H. R; SEARLES S. JONES.

' VAGINAL SYRINGE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1906. RENEWED DBO. 1,1906.

2 SHEETS-SEEP]! 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT HENRY R. SEARLES AND SAMUEL S. JONES, OF CARBON DALE, PENN SYLVANIA; SAID SEARLES ASSIGN OR TO SAID JONES.

VAGINAL SYRINGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

Application filed March 29, 1905. Renewed December 1, 1906. Serial No. 345,937.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HENRY R. SEARLES and SAMUEL S. J ONES, citizens of the United States, residing at Carbondale, in the county of Lackawanna and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vaginal Syringes, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in vaginal syringes, the objects of which are to provide a compact device of this character capable of effectively irrigating the vagina as in applying washes or medicaments to affected parts thereof, as well as affording a means for elevating or returning the uterus to its proper position in cases of prolapsus uteri and also serving as a urethral speculum in the treatment of females.

With the foregoing objects in view, our invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts such as will be more fully described hereinafter and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of our entire device, the usual flexible tubing and pump, however, being removed, Fig. 2 is a detail view in side elevation of the sliding tube and the perforated hollow irrigating pipes forming a skeleton cage, Fig. 3 is a detail view showing the irrigating pipes removed from the tube, Fig. 4 is a detail perspective view of the casing showing the grooves in which the pipes are received, Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the urethral speculum, Fig. 6 is a cross sectional view through the syringe, and Fig. 7 is a view in side elevation showing a slight modification.

A, indicates, the casing for supporting the various elements of our syringe. This casing comprises a hollow preferably cylindrical tube provided at one end with a discharge spout or nozzle 1 communicating with the bore of the casing and adapted to receive one end of a tube for conveying the wash away from the patient or the fluid may be discharged directly into a suitable receptacle, a stopper (not shown) being provided to pre vent the discharge of the wash or medicament from the cavity, when desirable.

The outer end of the bore of the casing is provided with an internal annulus 2 and is further provided with a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves 3, 3 equi-distant from each other and corresponding in number preferably to the number of irrigating pipes 4,. 4 employed, the grooves extending from points adjacent the annulus 2 to the inner end of the casing and being formed in the inner periphery of the casing, the grooves serving as guides for the pipes when the latter are moved in or out.

Removably received within the casing is the sliding tube 5, the same being of a size and contour to have a sliding fit in the annulus? and projecting within and preferebly concentric with the casing A. This sliding tube is hollow and open at its outer end, it having internal screw threads to receive the threaded end of a cap 6 fitting tightly thereupon and provided with a washer to effect an air and water tight joint between the cap and the end of the tube, the cap being provided with a nipple 7 for the reception of a tube leading from the pump or bulb, not shown.

The inner end of the tube is closed and provided with a plurality of apertures in which are received the ends of the hollow irrigating pipes 4, 4 which pipes may be removed from the tube for cleaning purposes or for the substitution of a different set of pipes. The number of apertures in the inner end of the sliding tube corresponds with the number of pipes preferably, a greater or lesser number of the latter than are shown being employed if desired. These pipes are each of an approximately U-shaped form, theends of the pipes converging toward one another to lie opposite the apertures in the closed end of the sliding tube. Each of the pipes is provided with a number of minute perforations on its inner face to permit of the introduction of the wash or medicament to the parts being treated and these pipes also are slightly resilient to cause them to fit snugly in the grooves 3, 3 of the casing, and support the inner end of the tube. The irrigating pipe 4 is somewhat longer than pipe 4 and at its inner end is provided with a lateral or ogee curvature 8 whereby the inner end of such pipe is elevated and projects at an angle to cause it to engage the uterus or womb to place and hold the latter in its correct position, this constituting our uterine elevator. It is obvious however, that the pipes may both be of the form of the pipe 4 when there is no prolapsus uterus.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the irrigating pipes project out through the inner open end of the casing and are IIO I adapted, together with the sliding tube, to

be slid in and out relative to the inner end of the casing to cause the pipes to be adjusted regarding the cavity under treatment, and obviously the instrumentieanbe used as de scribed above, but for further convenience, we provide a guard or shield B receivable upon the barrel of the casing A,ithe shield being of a general elliptical form gently curved from end to end thereof to conform to the general curvature of the body of the female. This shield is provided with a sleeve9 fitting on the casing which is frictionally engaged by such sleeve, the latter slidable back and forth on the casing.

The inner face of the shield is provided with an elliptical groove or recess 10, of a shape similar to the conformation of the shield, which groove at the lower end of the shield is broadened and provided with a transversely extending ridge 11 adapted to fit snugly against the lower end of the vulva to prevent the emission of the wash or medicament at that point. At the upper end of the shield is located our urethral speculum the same consisting of an elliptical flange 12 inelosing an opening 13, the flange designed to separate the labia of the vulva at that point and permit the female meatus clitoris and urethra to be received in the opening 13 where they may be inspected and treated, the labia lying on each side of the flange and received in the groove 10 of the shield. This opening or fenestra also permits of easy mieturition while the instrument is in place and a soft rubber band or ring 14 lies around the edge of the shield.

It will thus be seen that we provide an instrument capable of varied use at one insertion. In placing the instrument, the skeleton dilator comprising the hollow pipes 4, 4 are inserted in the vagina, the pipe 4 being manipulated if necessary to replace the uterus and the medicament forced through the nipple 7 of the cap 6 and thence through the sliding tube into the hollow perforated pipes whereby the walls of the vagina are drenched and flooded with the medicament, the skeleton dilator holding the folds of flesh apart. The fluid then finds its way back between the pipes and within the casing A whence it runs in the annular space between the casing and sleeve until it reaches the spout by which it is discharged. The cap 6 serves as a stop to limit the inward movement of the sleeve or tube, a shoulder 15 being formed on the inner end of the tube serving to limit the outward movement of the sleeve or tube by abutting against the annulus 2 as does the cap. The shield B is movable longitudinally of the casing to fit snugly against the vulva and prevent the accidental discharge of the fluid injected within the vagina, at the same time admitting of treatment being administered to the female meatus and urethra.

In Fig. 7 we have shown a slight modification of our invention wherein the skeleton dilator is shown unaccompanied by the remainder of the mechanism shown in the former figures. In this form we have shown a dilator comprising the U-shaped forms of pipes 4, 4 one end of each of the pipes being free and connected by means of a U-shaped staple 16 to retain them in alinement with each other. The remaining ends of the two pipes are brought together and extended some distance, the extended portions 17 of the pipes preferably being soldered or otherwise secured together and received in a hollow teat 18 to which latter a tube and pump (not shown) may be connected. This form of our invention is employed more generally when it is only desired to replace the uterus if the latter be displaced and to wash out the cavity.

It is evident that slight changes might be made in the form and arrangement of the several parts described without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention and hence we do not wish to limit ourselves to the precise construction herein set forth, but

Having fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A dilator for a syringe comprising two perforated pipes, one of said pipes being longer than the other and terminating in a lateral or ogee curvature.

2. A dilator for a syringe comprising two perforated pipes, said pipes independent of each other, one of said pipes being longer than the other and terminating in a lateral or ogee curvature. v

3. A vaginal syringe comprising a hollow easing, open at both ends, an annulus carried by the casing and projecting into the bore thereof, a sliding tube of considerably less diameter than the casing, the tube received in the casing and frietionally engaged by the annulus, the latter providing a free annular space between and concentric with the inte rior'periphery of the casing and the exterior periphery of the tube, an irrigating dilator carried by the tube, a cap removably closing the outer end of the tube and engaging the end of the casing to limit the inward movement of the tube, means for introducing liquid into the tube and means for withdrawing liquid from the annular space.

4. A vaginal syringe comprising a hollow casing, an annulus carried by and projecting into the bore of the casing, a tube slidingly received within the casing and of considerably less diameter than the casing whereby an annular space is left between the casing and tube closed at one end by the annulus, an external shoulder formed near one end of the tube, a cap removably secured to the opposite end of the tube outside the casing, the l shoulder and cap adapted to engage the outer IIO end of the casing to limit the movement of the tube in either direction relative to the casing, a dilator carried by the tube, means for introducing medicaments into the tube and means for draining the annular space.

5. A vaginal syringe comprising a hollow casing having a plurality of longitudinally extending grooves formed on its inner periphery, a tube of less diameter than the casing slidingly received within the casing, a skeleton dilator carried by the inner end of the tube and extending beyond the inner end of the casing, the members of the dilator receivable in and guided by the grooves in the casing, means for introducing a medicament into the tube and means for draining the space between the tube and casing.

6. A syringe comprising a hollow casing, a tube slidably received within the casing, a skeleton dilator carried by the inner end of the tube, the dilator'comprising a plurality of separate and independent hollow perforated pipes freely communicating with the interior of the tube, the pipes removably secured to the tube to permit their removal and substitution and means for supplying medicament to the tube.

7. In a syringe, the combination with a casing, open at both ends, of a tube of considerably less diameter than the casing and slid ably received through the outer end thereof, means for closing the outer end of the annular space left between the casing and tube, a plurality of independent approximately U shaped hollow perforated pipes, the ends of which are removably mounted in the inner end of the tube, the interiors of the pipes in free communication with the interior of the tube, means for introducing medicament into the tube and means for draining the annular space.

8. In a syringe, the combination with a tube, of a skeleton dilator carried thereby, the dilator comprising independent U-shaped hollow perforated pipes, one of the pipes ex tending some distance in advance of the other and its free end being bent forwardly in a plane at approximately right angles to the body of the pipe and at an angle to theother pipe.

9. In a vaginal syringe, the combination with a hollow casing, of a tube received and slidable within the casing, a skeleton dilator carried .by the tube and moving therewith, the dilator extending beyond the open inner end of the casing, means for introducing a medicament into the sliding tube and dilator, means for draining the space between the tube and casing, and a shield adjustable upon the casing, the shield provided with a fenestra for inspecting the parts.

10. In a vaginal syringe, the combination with a casing open at each end, a tube slidably received in and closing one end of the casing, and a skeleton dilator carried by the tube and projecting out of the open end of the casing, the members of the dilator being hollow perforated pipes in communication with the tube of a shield on the casing, the shield being oval in form and gently curved from end to end thereof, the lower end of the shield being broader than the upper end thereof, the shield provided with an elliptical groove 011 its inner concaved face and also with a fenestra formed on the longitudinal median line of the shield, and a flange surrounding the fenestra on the inner face of the shield and separating the fenestra from the groove.

11. The combination with a vaginal syringe, of an oval shield mounted thereon, the shield being curved to lit the parts, and provided with an elliptical groove surrounding a fenestra, and an oval flange located near the apex of the shield, the flange inclosing the fenestra and separating the same from the groove.

12. The combination in a vaginal syringe, of a skeleton dilator comprising a plurality of hollow approximately U-shaped perforated pipes independent of each other and removably supported in the syringe, one of the hollow pipes projecting beyond the other and having an enlarged loop, the loop being bent at an angle to its body portion and to the other U-shaped rod.

13. The combination with a syringe, of an uterine speculum comprising an apertured plate, the syringe slidably received in the aperture in the plate, said plate also provided with an elongated fenestra for inspecting and treating the urethra.

14. The combination in a syringe with a suitable casing, of a shield slidably mounted on the casing, the shield further provided with a fenestra, and a groove extending around the shield near the outer edge thereof, and a cushion removably received in the groove.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY R. SEARLES. SAML. S. JONES. Witnesses:

JAMES PRICE, PETER NEULS. 

